The Half Demon Child
by FrancesIyaghume8
Summary: A young child who faces many ordeals in her life as a half demon; a lifestyle that InuYasha had to deal with he was her age. Aware of the hidden powers she has, Naraku intends to use her to get what he wants.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own InuYasha, the show InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own any of the characters. However, the characters I made up like Tani and Larina belong to me.**

Far away, through the forest, outside a village down by the riverside, there was a little girl sitting in front of a lily pond, playing her instrument called an ocarina. She had been playing her ocarina for some time and continued playing her ocarina until, "ah, darn it; I can never get that note right!" She continued. She then sighed to calm herself down and then played her little melody once more. She had continued playing her instrument until she was interrupted by the sound of children approaching her from behind.

"That's where that _awful_sound is coming from! It's that freak of nature who's playing that cursed instrument!" A boy called out as him and his group of friends ran up to the ghostly white haired child.

The white haired child felt nervous as she got up from where she sat and inched herself away from the three to the four amount of children who had approached her.

The boy who appeared to be the leader of the group of friends gave the abnormal girl a dirty look, "who do you think you are playing that trashy instrument? This is a no demon zone!" He said.

"It's monsters like you that killed my older brother during the war," one of the boy's friends said.

"It's demons like you that cause havoc upon villages." A village girl added.

"In fact," The leader of the group began as he approached the white haired girl, "I bet you were going to summon your demon friends with this," he finished, after swiping her ocarina and admiring it.

"No, wasn't!" she protested as she tried to get it back "Honest! Give it back!" She continued, struggling to get it back the boy.

Teasing her, the head of the group threw it to his other friend and then his friend threw it back to the head of the boy. She tried to get it back from head. Disgusted, the head boy aggressively pushed her which caused her to fall forward and land with a great thud.

"Ew! Tani don't touch me!" He said still holding onto the ocarina. "Don't you ever touch me again!" He threatened. He then smirked and looked at the ocarina. "Huh you know what? Here, take your stupid thing back. That is… if you can swim!" He then threw the ocarina in the pond.

The white haired girl, who still had dirt on her face from the ground, had watched her precious instrument, her ocarina sink to the bottom of the pond which she sat in front of.

"Heh, let's go guys…" The leader said with a smirk as him and his friends walked away, leaving the white haired girl alone.

Tears began to well up in her eyes. She didn't know what hurt the most the fact that the village children who treated her so badly or the fact that when the head boy pushed her, she hit the ground hard. The little girl blinked causing tears to come out her eyes. This has happened before; the village children bullying her because she was different. She could've fought back to defend herself if she wanted too. But it would convince the villagers that she really was a monster.

The white haired girl wiped her eyes once more before she went into the pond and dove to the bottom of the pond to collect her ocarina. Once she had gotten a hold of her ocarina she then reached to the surface of the pond only to hear her mother's voice calling her name.

"Tani, Tani? Where are you?" The girl heard her mother, Larina call from the over the hill.

Larina was one of the reasons why Tani still lived in the village, in fact; she was the only reason why Tani still lived in the village. Larina was a priestess who protected the village that they lived in. Even though Larina was a priestess, (a human priestess for that matter) she still managed to fall in love a demon which was how Tani was born.

Before Larina found Tani, Tani quickly wiped her face so that her mother couldn't tell that she had been crying, "h-hello, mother…" She said.

"Tani, what were you doing?" Tani's mother asked with concern and confusion. "Why are you drenched?" She continued, approaching her daughter.

Tani looked down at her drenched clothes and squeezed out the water which was still lingering in her hair, "…I'm n-not wet…" she said her voice still shaky from earlier.

"You were in the pond, weren't you?" Larina asked, with a frown on her face as she got down to her daughter's level. Larina placed her hand on Tani's forehead pushing back her bangs that hid her grey eyes, "what made you go into the water in the first place?" As a mother, Larina knew right away that someone was wrong, her frown softened, "have… you been crying?"

Tani quickly shook her head, "n-no, I went into the water because I dropped my ocarina…" she lied.

Larina just stared at her daughter; she could tell that the children from their village were picking on her, again. There was a reason why Tani preferred going out into this private pond instead of in the village; not many people stayed there. Larina continued to stare at her daughter and hugged her tightly as she tried to hold back her own tears. This just wasn't fair for Tani; having her be picked on because she was a half demon.

Larina looked into Tani's eyes one last time, Tani looked back, "come on," Larina said as she got up from Tani's level and gently took Tani's hand, "it's getting late, let's head home."

"…okay…" Tani replied quietly.

The sun was slowly begging to set as Tani and her mother were heading their way back to their hut. Once they had gotten home, Tani got out of her wet clothes and went into her night gown while her mother was preparing dinner.

While Tani was waiting for her dinner to be cooked, she just sat there in front of the fire place and stared at her ocarina. Tani tried to blow into her ocarina but only screechy sounds came out of the instrument. Suspecting that there was water that was still in the instrument, Tani tried shaking the instrument in hopes to remove any more water that could've still been in the instrument. Once she was certain that all the water was out, Tani blew into her ocarina only to hear the same screechy result; Tani sighed irritably.

Larina stopped what she was doing and watched her daughter as she continued to stare at her ocarina; it was amazing how she resembled her father she thought to herself. Larina poured soup into the bowls for her and her daughter to eat out of. A piece of her memory entered into her mind…

"_No Houkasi! I cannot leave without you!" Larina remembers yelling to the love of her life, "please, Houkasi… please don't allow your only child to grow up without a father…"_

"_Larina," the love of her life called to her, gently caressing her cheek, "if anything were to happen to you or the child, I could never forgive myself…"_

_Larina didn't say anything to the humanized demon as she stared deep into his eyes as a tear stood still in it, "Houkasi…"_

"_Take this," Houkasi began placing an ocarina on her hand. "Do you remember what this is Larina?" _

_Larina shook her head, "Yes… it is the ocarina that we made that keeps our daughter's demonic powers dormant so no one will ever discover her hidden powers." _

"_And you remember the melody?"_

_A tear which stood still in Larina's eyes rolled off her cheek. Houkasi, the demon sprite wiped the tear from Larina's cheek. Larina nodded, "yes, Houkasi."_

"_You will play her that melody to her every night. You must play it every night to keep her demonic powers dormant and to keep my memory alive."_

"_But… Houkasi-,"_

"_You must go now! You and the child must leave this place before the monks find you and kill you!"_

_It has been nine years since that day… _Larina remembered.

The young priestess got up from where she sat and brought the two bowls with her and sat next to Tani. Tani didn't seem to notice as she continued to look into her ocarina, still frowning. Her mother simply smiled at Tani before she remembered something. Larina brought out something from her kimono and polished it with a cloth.

"Your necklace," Larina said, presenting it to her daughter. The necklace was a golden chain that had half a sun and the other half of a moon as its pendant. Tani looked at her mother and then put it around her neck; the pendent shimmered.

Once Tani finished putting on her necklace, she resumed back to her original problem, "it's ruined." Tani said shaking out the remainder of water from her ocarina.

Larina smiled, "here, let me take a look at it." She said taking her ocarina away from Tani. Larina looked at the ocarina and wiped it with a cloth in hopes to remove most of the water. Once she was certain that all the water was our, she began to play Tani's lullaby.

Tani's sulky face grew bright with delight. "You fixed it! How did you do that?" Tani asked getting her ocarina back and looking at it.

"I have my ways," Larina responded with a playful shrug. "That ocarina is very special, it can never be broken. It's like there is a spirit inside the ocarina that keeps it strong." Larina explained. "At least, that's what your father told me before his passing. But he still lives within you; as long as you never forget." She said playfully tickling her daughter.

Tani giggled from her mother's tickles looking at her ocarina in awe "Wow…" Tani whispered with the remainder of her giggles, "can you play that song for me?" she asked, "please?"

Larina smiled as she gently took the ocarina from Tani's small hands and then soon started to play. Tani's eyes grew timid slowly as she fell under the ocarina's spell and fell asleep. Larina had then stopped playing and realized that their food hadn't been touched; she then chuckled to herself quietly.

_I guess we're not going to have dinner tonight,_ Larina thought watching her daughter sleep so peacefully. She then leaned over and kissed Tani softly on the cheek and stroked her soft white hair gently. "Stay strong, my Tani," Larina whispered, "stay strong."

**End Chapter**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own InuYasha, the show InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own any of the characters. **

It was a bright sunny day in the Feudal era of Japan, Shippo and Kirara were sitting a top of the bone eaters well. The two had been waiting for Kagome's return. Kagome had been to her own time for a couple of days and Shippo was getting rather impatient.

"_Don't worry guys; I'll be back before you know it!"_ Shippo remembered Kagome saying before she jumped back into the well with a playful wink.

_She said that she would be back in three days and it's been three days. What's taking her so long? I hope she's all right over there… _Shippo thought. _I wish I could easily go to her world the way InuYasha can, _he sighed.

"What's the matter Shippo?" a familiar male voice asked from behind.

Shippo turned to see it was Miroku the monk and Sango the demon slayer approaching him and Kirara. Sango didn't have to say a word, she could tell that Shippo was waiting for Kagome's return.

"Don't worry Shippo," the demon slayer began, "Kagome will be coming back shortly, I'm sure she's just running a little late."

"If that's the case she's taking her sweet time," said a voice from above in the trees.

It was InuYasha, the half demon who had been resting his head on the branch of the sacred tree where he was pinned fifty years ago. InuYasha was also waiting for Kagome's return and he too was also getting rather impatient. He jumped off from the tree, landed on his feet and began to rotate his arms.

"We've got to hurry up with our search with Naraku," InuYasha began, "we almost got a hold of him last time."

Sango grimaced at InuYasha, "you can't blame Kagome, InuYasha; she's got other errands to do in her time period as well."

"Huh," InuYasha began, folding his arms, "as if her _**tests**_ were more important than hunting down Naraku and restore the jewel to its full whole…"

Sango just then shook her head and sighed at InuYasha in unison with Miroku's defeated sigh. InuYasha can really be inconsiderate about Kagome's own burdens in her own world.

Suddenly as if on cue, a glow appeared in the well, startling Shippo that caused him to fall off the edge of well. Soon, a hand a raised from the well followed by a second hand soon after; it was Kagome! She had climbed out of the well and that everyone was staring at her.

"Hey guys…" Kagome began, pulling a large yellow backpack from the well. "… What are you all looking at?" Kagome asked as she dropped the yellow backpack on the grass with a loud thud.

"Kagome!" Shippo exclaimed giving her a hug, she embraced him in return.

"Took you long enough?" InuYasha said sarcastically, arms folded. "I was just about ready to go get you."

Kagome sighed, rolling her eyes, "you don't _always_ have to go get me you know. I was busy; I have another life in the other world too you know."

InuYasha just shot his nose up in the air. "Hmph, whatever…"

Kagome wanted to make a comment to InuYasha but then decided to keep it quietly to herself.

"Well," Miroku began to ease the hostility, "now that Kagome is here with us now, we can get under way on our search for Naraku?"

InuYasha simply replied with a nod, "Let's go."

**End Chapter**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own InuYasha, the show belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own any of the characters.**

"Hurry up Kagome, what's taking you so long?" InuYasha asked impatiently.

"My feet are killing me; I wish I didn't have my bike with me." Kagome replied as she placed her bike on its stand.

Kagome edged one shoe off her feet and bent over to rub it, she moaned quietly as she did so. As she was rubbing her feet she looked up at InuYasha only to see no sign of sympathy on his face. She glared at him.

"Hey, don't look at me!" InuYasha said hastily, "It's not my fault!"

"Can you at least have a little sympathy for me?" Kagome pleaded, "I feel as though my feet are gonna fall off."

InuYasha folded his arms and looked away.

Kagome frowned at InuYasha. She knew that InuYasha could be selfish but… damn! But at these situations, Kagome figured, why get mad when you can get even?

Kagome took a deep breath, closed her eyes and began to say, "InuYasha…" she hummed.

InuYasha along with Miroku, Sango and Shippo all already knew what she was going to say.

"You're in for it now InuYasha…" Sango warned.

"Nice work dumb, dumb…" Shippo said.

"…SIT!" Kagome commanded.

Within seconds InuYasha's necklace began to glow as he had plunged into the hard ground with a loud thud. InuYasha groaned in pain with his face still in the ground.

"Hmph… serves you right," Kagome said.

Miroku just sighed as he walked in front of InuYasha and kneeled to his level. "What's getting you so up and add it InuYasha? Do you have any leads to find Naraku?"

"No," InuYasha responded as he got and brushed the dirt of his shoulders, "that's why I figured we should start searching for him now to see if we could find any leads. Also to see if Kagome can sense any jewel shards."

"I see…" Miroku responded as he shifted his glance to Kagome.

"Can you sense anything Kagome?" Sango asked, turning to face Kagome.

Kagome shook her head, "nothing."

"Well isn't this a bother…" Shippo said, "we can't find him if we don't have any leads…"

Everyone sighed almost feeling like there was no hope in finding Naraku. It was then quiet as everyone just stood there on the road pondering on what to do.

"Well…" Kagome said breaking the silence, "I believe that this is a sign for taking a break." Kagome said.

InuYasha turned to Kagome and raised her eyebrow, "what are you talking about? Are you going somewhere with this?"

"Kagome's right," Miroku agreed, "we've been walking, and walking for days sleeping under the stars, not that that's bad or anything but... I think we should take a short little break so we have a lot more energy." Miroku said.

"Now you're talking!" Kagome said enthusiastically.

"It's not that bad of an idea, it really can't hurt InuYasha." Sango said looking at him, "just one night. I think we all need a little rest from time to time."

"We have no time to be taking short little vacations. We've already waited for Kagome to return. And now you want another day off? Naraku can be anywhere! We can't just keep getting these unnecessary breaks," InuYasha protested.

Kagome glared at InuYasha once more, "you call having to spend my days studying and failing most of my tests in my era a vacation?" Kagome said irritated.

InuYasha glared at Kagome and then looked the other way, "you tell me…"

Before Kagome could tell InuYasha to `sit' again, Shippo quickly jumped on InuYasha's shoulder, "oh, stop being such a spoiled sport."

InuYasha started to crack his knuckles as a threat towards Shippo if he dared to open his mouth again. Scared, Shippo jumped off InuYasha's and then onto Sango's shoulder.

"InuYasha please, just one more day off? Please? Besides we haven't really heard any rumors of Naraku…please?" Kagome begged.

"She does have a point InuYasha," Miroku started again, "what's the point of fighting Naraku if we don't even have enough strength the fight him? If you ask me, that doesn't seem to make much sense InuYasha."

InuYasha grumbled, "alright then! But only one day, understand? One day! By the next morning we're going to search for Naraku, alright? Even if we don't we're still going to search, understand? "

Kagome clapped her hands together out of joy, "Oh, thank you InuYasha!"

"Whatever..." InuYasha mumbled.

"Let's try to find a nearby village then shall we?" Miroku suggested.

Sango surveyed the area for any signs of a nearby village, "well I see there's smoke over yonder, meaning that there could be a village." Sango said pointing to the direction where she can see the smoke.

Miroku walked up in front of the gang and turned to them. "Leave it to me," He said placing his hand on his chest, "I can handle us finding us a nice place to sleep with nice beds." He said with a charming gleam in his smile.

The rest of the gang then at that moment just gave each other glance as they all seemed rather skeptical with Miroku's promise.

"Something tells me that he's going to do that old `I can sense evil' crap on the villagers." InuYasha said.

"Of course he will…" Shippo agreed.

"It's Miroku," Kagome and Sango finished in unison.

Miroku gave a hesitant laugh of what his friends said as he felt a sweat drop going down his head, knowing that they were right very right about him.

"There, I think that it's dried up." Larina said looking at Tani's once drenched kimono with a smile. Larina had been busy outside her hut washing and drying her and her daughter's clothes. "Tani," she called.

"Yes mother?" the half asleep half demon asked, wiping her eyes as she slowly coming out of their hut.

Larina smiled as she presented the dried kimono to her daughter. Tani smiled brightly at the sight of her fresh, clean and dry kimono.

"Oh thank you!" Tani said. She took her kimono and ran back into the house. Once she was out from the hut, she was wearing her clean kimono that had pink flower printed yellow kimono.

"Mom," she asked.

"Mmm?" Larina replied, her attention still on the laundry.

"Is it okay if I go and play? I won't be gone for too long this time."

Larina paused uncertain if that was a good idea before she said anything. She stared at her daughter and then relented, "okay, but stay away from those children; they're nothing but trouble."

Tani smiled, "okay," she started to float up in the air, "bye momma."

"Bye,"

With that Tani was long gone from Larina's sight. It was quiet for a moment until the priestess suddenly sensed something, something that didn't seem right.

"Demons are coming…"

"Are you serious? There is _**actually**_ a demon in this village?" Miroku asked in disbelief.

Miroku along with the rest of the gang had arrived to the village that Sango had pointed out earlier. Miroku was about to begin his little conspiracy plot about evil living in the village to the villagers only to find out that something evil _was_ living in the village.

The men nodded all in unison.

"No mistake about it." One of the villagers said.

"Well… she's not as much as a demon; she's a half demon, but still evil." Another villager noted.

"Infact," another one of the villagers began, walking up to the Miroku, "if you're truly human, then why do you accompany demons such as these?" he finally asked eying InuYasha, Shippo, and Kirara.

Kirara who was on Sango's shoulder in her small form, growled at the villagers sensing the hostility from them who were making preconceived notions about her, InuYasha and Shippo.

"I can assure you none of these demons are evil." Sango assured while she pet Kirara to calm her down.

The neko-manta demon purred in response to Sango's reassuring touch.

Kagome had a sudden realization, "wait you just said half demon right?"

The villager men nodded once again.

Kagome turned to the monk, "well Miroku?"

Miroku thought for a moment and then paused to see if he actually was sensing anything evil …_I don't sense anything evil_ _about it._

InuYasha took a step forward to the village men, causing them to take a step back, "huh, this is a whole lot of bull," he remarked.

The village men gasped as they looked at InuYasha with rage, hard-nosed InuYasha was not fazed by their glare.

"Just what does this _half demon_ do that's makes it evil?" InuYasha asked. It was obvious that InuYasha was offended by the prejudice notions that the villagers had about half demons; considering the fact that InuYasha was one.

"Well…she's got demon blood running within her veins, enough said." A villager replied rudely.

The other village men nodded in agreement with what the man said.

Shippo frowned.

Kagome looked up at InuYasha to studies his face. His face was clenched with rage as if he was ready to go on a punching spree with the ignorant villagers.

"Let me see this demon that is so evil, we'll see if it's the same evil demon that I sensed earlier." Miroku said, still playing an act about the fictional demon that he said he had sensed earlier.

"But wait a minute…" One village man said, "if there is an evil demon, wouldn't priestess Larina sense it?"

"You're right." The other villagers agreed.

"A priestess?" InuYasha and his friends said in unison.

Shippo quickly jumped and landed on Kagome's shoulder to make a comment, "this village is unpredictable."

"You can say that again." Kagome responded, queitly.

InuYasha paused and sniffed from where he stood, w_ell it can't be Kikyo; I can't smell dead body and soil…_

One of the village men snorted, "The woman is probably losing her touch because of the vile demon." The villager turned to the monk, "we'll show you were she is."

Priestess Larina had been sitting on a rock, surveying the village until she noticed a group of people walking towards her. She noticed that there were three characters that appeared to be demons. Larina had reached to the conclusion that the three were the demons that she had sensed earlier. She remained sitting on the rock and waited for the group of people (including the demons) to approach her.

"Priestess Larina," the balding villager began, turning his body to Miroku, "this monk wishes to see Tani…" he finished hesitantly.

InuYasha noticed that the villager's once arrogant voice suddenly changed to quiet and hesitant, _what happened to the tough guy act?_ he thought.

Larina frowned as she got off from the rock she had been sitting on, "what business do you have with my daughter?"

Kagome's eyes shot wide as well as the rest of her friends, "your daughter?"

"Yes, Tani is my daughter," the Priestess replied sharply.

Sensing the hostility from Larina, Miroku thought it would be wise to choose his words carefully and not upset the priestess anymore than she already was.

"Priestess Larina," the monk began slowly, "Your daughter, she wouldn't happen to be a half demon would she?"

Larina's frown lightened, "do you have a problem with half demons?" She began, her voice still stern, "you have a half demon as a companion and two other demons."

"I didn't mean to offend you, I apologize," Miroku said.

Larina stared at Miroku, then the Kagome and then the rest of them, "well if you must know, my daughter is a half demon."

"… I see…" Miroku quietly replied.

Larina shot a cold look at the villagers that hit them like a stray arrow.

"O-okay, p-priestess," one of the villagers began, "we won't bother you anymore…"

"W-we'll be on our way." The other villager said.

It was obvious that Larina's cold stare was making the villagers uncomfortable. The village men slowly starting to back up and quickly walked away.

_Cowards, _InuYasha thought as he watched the villagers walk away quickly like startled insects.

"Where are they going in such a hurry?" Shippo whispered sarcastically in Sango's ear.

"You're asking me…?" Sango replied quietly.

Larina sighed, shaking her head as she watched the villagers disappear from her sight. "The ignorance…" she said. She sighed one last time as she redirected her attention to the monk and the rest of the group. "Do you and your friends need a place to stay?"

Caught off guard, Miroku blinked, "Uh… yes, yes we'd be forever in your debt to you my lady…" Miroku said bowing his head, giving the priestess the respect.

Larina smiled weakly in response to Miroku's gesture. She turned slowly as she started walking ahead, "follow me."

"It's not much, but it will have to do," said Larina, referring to the small hut. It was a secluded hut that was not far off from the village.

Larina turned to Miroku and the rest of the group, "feel free to spend the night there if you wish."

"Thank you, Priestess Larina" Kagome said as all of them bowed their head.

The priestess took notice bowed back in response. As she returned back to the upright position, she noticed the half demon in the red kimono was the only one who did not bow his head; Larina intrigued with his behavior but showed no sign.

Kagome lifted up her head and the followed Priestess Larina's gaze and saw InuYasha not showing any signs of respect whatsoever, "InuYasha," Kagome hissed.

InuYasha looked over to Kagome annoyed, "what?" he said. He didn't realize that what he was doing was disrespectful.

The fifteen year old just gave InuYasha a cold look but the half demon ignored her. In response, Kagome just shook her head at InuYasha realizing that he will never change.

Suddenly, InuYasha sensed something. He felt as if he was being watched over by something. He looked up to see what it was. In an instant, he spotted a familiar demonic insect that he had come across several times on his journey to hunt down Naraku. It was the one of Naraku's poisonous insects; the saimyosho.

_Saimyosho...? _InuYasha thought in disbelief.

The saimyosho have been known to be Naraku's large deadly insects from hell.

_What the hell is it doing here? _InuYasha thought,_ Wait, if the saimyosho is here, then Naraku must be nearby!_

The insect realized that it was discovered by InuYasha and began to flee. InuYasha growled while cracked his knuckles and started to chase after it.

Confused, Kagome along with the rest of the group watched InuYasha in shock running off.

"InuYasha!" Kagome called watching him go, "where are you going…?" she trailed off realizing that it was hopeless, InuYasha was long gone.

Sango sighed, "that InuYasha can be so weird at times…"

"You can say that again," said Miroku in agreement. "This search for Naraku has seriously gotten to his head, it's worrisome."

"It makes me worried too," Shippo agreed.

Kagome stood silent wondering what was going on in InuYasha's head.

Larina watched Kagome and then followed her concerned glance _InuYasha… _She thought _He must sense the same disturbance I've been sensing… _

**End Chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own InuYasha, the show InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. **

InuYasha felt a little bad for leaving his friends the way he did without a word. He figured that he had no time to explain and that the saimyosho would be a lead to finding Naraku. The half demon continued to leap from tree to tree, trying to keep up with the demonic insect. The saimyosho was trying it's best to get away from the half demon as it continued to zip left and right through the forest.

_Let's see where the insect is going lead me…_ InuYasha thought.

The demonic insect continued to zip through left to right then right to left and continued those flight patterns. But the persistent half demon continued to follow Naraku's poisonous bug. In soon time, the insect's wings began to fall off as the insect itself began to fall.

InuYasha at that moment stopped jumping and landed on a branch of a tree. He looked down at what looked like dead saimyosho. InuYasha then jumped off the tree and walked forward to get a closer look it and sure enough, it was dead.

"Damnit, this is just perfect! You really had me going there for a second!" He shouted out loud, "Damn, there goes my chance in finding Naraku." InuYasha growled at the site of the dead insect.

It was quiet, the only sound that filled the air was the sound of birds chirping and leaves swaying with the gently breeze.

"Well, there is no point in staying anyways…I might as well start heading back to the village-"

InuYasha stopped himself. He was just about to head back to the village until he heard a gentle melody coming from the end of the forest. The music made his ears twitch; he decided to go follow the soothing melody. He jumped up on a tree branch and tried the best he could to quietly jump from branch to branch.

InuYasha eventually came out of the forest to find a little white haired girl with braided pigtails playing a strange instrument. His curiosities lead him to stay. He remained up in the tree and sat the branch, watching her play.

_Is this the half demon?_ He wondered.

The girl continued to play her ocarina when suddenly, the sound of children erupted the air. Four, five of them all ran up and circled the white haired girl. This seemed all too familiar to InuYasha; he knew this would be trouble. A flashback of InuYasha soon came to his mind the moment he saw the children taunting the half demon child.

"Leave me alone! I haven't done anything to you! Why do you choose to follow me out here all the time?" Tani said holding onto her ocarina tightly so the kids wouldn't steal it again.

"Huh," a village boy, who seemed to be the head of the group started, "don't try and play dumb with us… we're going to keep this up until you leave this village. The only person keeping you here is your mother."

"I bet your demon father be-witched your mother into marrying him." A village girl with freckles said with a chuckle. "You're nothing more but a mistake, a scum of the earth!"

Tani's eyes grew dark as her eyebrows knitted together with rage, the audacity!

Tani growled, "Take that back! My mother loved my father very much; you have no right to say such things!"

The white haired girl clenched her fists, ready to attack. Her fist had almost mace contact to the main leader of village kid's face until one of them grabbed her by her kimono.

"Don't you ever try to punch us, got that half breed?" one of the kids spat, shaking her around like a helpless doll.

Tani struggled to break free from the kid's grasp. Her struggles made it easier for the one of village kids to take the instrument from her. The village kids all chuckled and taunted at the helpless half demon child.

"Half breed!" The girl with the freckles called.

"Freak of nature!" the other village boy joined.

"If you want your precious ocarina back," The leader said as he was taking the ocarina from Tani's hand, "you're going to have to listen to us from now on."

The one village boy who was still holding onto Tani's kimono smiled at his friend that took the ocarina. He then looked at Tani as he aggressively shoved her, causing her hit the ground again with a loud thud.

"Jiro, hand me the instrument," The head villager ordered.

"Yes Raidon," Jiro responded as he handed it to him.

"So," Raidon chuckled, "if you ever wanna see your precious ocarina again, you're going to have to listen to our demand, you got that half breed?"

"You tell that freak,"

Tani's tears brimmed over her eyes as she growled and clenched her teeth at the kids as the kids continued to taunt her and call her names. She had hoped that this nightmare would soon come to an end.

"Give that back to her," a voice called out.

The bullies stopped laughing as they looked around, wondering where the voice had come from. Tani too also looked around not realizing tears were trickling down her face.

"Wh-who said that?" Raidon demanded still holding the ocarina.

Suddenly out of nowhere, something fast came out of the trees. It came out so fast leaves were falling from his back as he landed. To what the children could tell, it was a man with a red kimono who had long silver hair with white doggy-like ears. His eyes were bronze-golden with fangs. He glared at the bullies especially the head village boy who still had a hold of Tani's ocarina. He slowly began to approach the children.

The village children trembled with fear as the head leader slowly started loosen the grip he had on Tani's ocarina. The red dressed demon cracked his knuckles showing the children that he was going to show no mercy if he didn't let go of Tani's instrument.

"If you know what's good for you, you _will_ give that back to her," InuYasha warned.

"Oh no, another demon!" One of the other village boys said.

"Tani must've summoned him!" Jiro suspected.

Jiro and the rest of the village kids backed up and made a run for it.

"Here take back your stupid ocarina!" Raidon said blindly throwing the ocarina.

The ocarina landed in front of the so-called demon's feet as Raidon the rest of them ran away.

Tani looked puzzled as tears continued to trickle down her face. She stared at the golden-eyed demon who stood before of her. Frightened Tani backed up a little, not knowing what the young demon man would do next. She watched him pick up the ocarina that the Jiro took.

The man in red got down on her level and presented it to her, "here."

The half demon child blinked as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Tani was speechless, no words could escape from her mouth. She looked at the ocarina and then at him. This was the first time that anyone other than her mother, has ever stood up for her.

"…th-thank you…" Tani said quietly. She hesitated before taking the ocarina from his hand.

"Don't mention it," He said. The demon man stood up and began to walk away.

Tani watched the silver haired man walk away, she got up from where she was, "wait…"

He turned "…what is it?"

Tani wiped her eyes and ran up to him. She blushed as she started to fidget with her ocarina; she was very shy. "U-um…" she was hesitant, "d-do you… want to stay for dinner…with me and my mother?"

"I wonder where InuYasha went…" Kagome said looking out the window of the hut that her and her friends were staying in.

"Yeah me too," Shippo said, taking a bite on one of the crisp Kagome gave him earlier. "He sure went out in such a hurry," he took another bite.

"Do you suspect InuYasha might have found leads in hope of finding Naraku, Kagome?" Sango asked.

Kagome shrugged, "he could've found anything…" she sighed, "InuYasha's been gone for so long..." Kagome continued to look out the window again, realizing that the sun was slowing going down.

"Both InuYasha _and_ Miroku have been gone out for sometime now and it's getting kinda," Shippo stated.

Kagome, Sango, Shippo and Kirara had all been sitting in the hut the Priestess Larina had offered to them, waiting for InuYasha's return. Miroku soon after left the hut to go elsewhere to do something.

"You're right," Sango said in agreement, petting Kirara who lay on her lap. "InuYasha and Miroku have been gone for sometime."

"Well Miroku only said that he was just going to be out for a while, so he couldn't have gotten far," Kagome stated.

"Then what could he be doing then? He's been for an awfully gone for long time," Shippo said.

There was a murmur coming from outside the hut that made everyone in the hut jolt their heads up.

The familiar male voice spoke out asking, "My dear young lady, would you consider bearing my child?"

There was only one person who would ask such a question to random attractive, young women. There was no one need to take a wild guess that the person was.

"Uh oh…" Shippo murmured to Kagome.

Both Kagome and Shippo turned their heads to observe Sango's behavior to see if Miroku's absurd question fazed her- it did. Sango's eyes grew dark with jealousy as she got up from where she sat and headed straight for the door.

"I'll be back…" Sango said stepping out of the hut.

Kagome shook her head, "he's really going to get it now…"

The sound of a loud slap rang the air, followed by a yelp soon after. Both Kagome and Shippo looked at each other as they headed outside. Once they were out, all they saw was Miroku rubbing his head with a hand mark on his cheek as Sango continued to give him a dirty look.

"I dare you to do that again monk," Sango warned, arms crossed.

"That Miroku will never learn…" Shippo said to Kagome.

Kagome sighed at Miroku while the monk laughed nervously as he continued to rub his cheek to sooth the pain.

Suddenly, there were sounds of horrified kids screaming and yelling for help as they all emerged from the forest. The horrified screams made caused some of the villagers to leave from their huts to see what all the commotion was.

"Help, someone help us! Another demon, there's a demon in the forest!" The children cried.

"What's going on?" Kagome wondered as she began to feel a little nervous.

"They all look so terrified," Sango said, walking to Kagome's side.

Miroku didn't say anything as he continued to observe the terrified children run to their parents. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Priestess Larina coming to also see what the commotion was all about.

"Did they say a demon?" One villager woman asked out of concern.

"I bet it's that damn Tani and that blasted other demon in the red that the monk was allied with!" One villager accused.

Miroku glared at the villager who made such an accusation. He then turned to see Larina's face to see if she heard the comments-she did. By the looks of it, she was damn well insulted.

The villager who made the accusation didn't notice Larina was out of her hut, "ah, Lady Larina," he jumped, "I didn't see you there."

Priestess Larina didn't dignify him with a response. She shot him one last look before she continued to walk up to Miroku, Sango and Kagome.

It had turned out that it was Raidon and his group of friends who had ran out of the forest. The stopped running once they felt that it was safe to do so. Raidon, the leader walked quickly to his father.

"Dad, dad!" Raidon said, panting, "we almost got attacked by a demon!"

"Yeah, he was big with a red kimono!" Jiro chimed in.

Kagome's heart jumped, "big with a red kimono?" Kagome repeated.

"Do you think he really attacked them?" Shippo said, "Remember InuYasha doesn't go easy on anyone even if you're a kid."

"Yeah, you're right," Kagome agreed, "I really hope he didn't. Then he would really convince the villagers that all demons are evil too…"

"It really would convince them," Sango agreed.

Soon, two figures emerged from the forest.

"InuYasha," Kagome said happily, once she recognized one of them.

_That must be Tani following him,_ Larina said with a smile, watching her daughter walk behind him.

"That's the demon!" Raidon said, pointing at InuYasha.

"That's him alright, the demon who nearly attacked us!" The village girl said pointing, "And look who's right by his side, Tani!"

One of the villager men growled, "you see that Priestess? You're daughter has attracted _other _demons and nearly attacked our children!" He said.

Kagome clenched her fist with rage. Larina sensed Kagome's anger as she lightly touched her shoulder to calm her down. She shot the villager a look.

"Did you just try to convince me that my daughter was evil?" Larina said.

The villager was hesitant, "uh… well…"

"Because if my daughter was evil and that other demon-InuYasha, I would've destroyed them and myself, understand?" Larina's voice was harsh.

"Y-yes… m'lady," the village man said. He looked down at his son, "let's go Raidon."

"But dad-," Raidon protested.

"Now," Raidon's father ordered.

Larina, Kagome and the rest of them watched the villagers leave to return to their huts. Kagome was surprised on how Larina had handled the situation.

"They're nothing but cowards," Kagome heard Larina hiss. Kagome could see the hurt in Larina's eyes when she said that and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Kagome eventually snapped out of it as she followed Larina's gaze towards something else.

The little girl who had been walking behind InuYasha recognized Larina from the distance. The little girl smiled as she quickly walked past InuYasha and eventually an up to her mother.

Larina smiled weakly as she watched her daughter run up to her. Larina's smile weak smile quickly faded when she noticed her daughter's face and kimono were dirty. The priestess stared at her daughter and then looked at InuYasha who eventually caught up with the little girl. Larina stared long and hard at the silver haired man in red.

Larina's daughter caught her mother's gaze, "Momma, he's the one that stopped the bullies."

"Hey, InuYasha you're back," Sango said as her and the rest of the gang walked up to him.

InuYasha watched the white haired girl hug her mother before drifted his attention to his friends.

"Yeah, I saw Naraku's poisonous insects so I decided to chase after it to see if it would lead me to him. As I chased it, it just suddenly dropped dead," he explained. "That's how I ended up meeting Tani. She was sitting in front of a pond playing some strange instrument at the other end of the forest."

InuYasha's friends all turned to the little girl and her mother. Tani in turn, turned to face them. She then looked up at her mother. "Can he stay for dinner… him and his friends?"

Larina smiled and nodded, looking up at InuYasha, "thank you."

"Don't mention it." InuYasha responded, looking away. He didn't want to embrace the idea that he actually did a good deed especially in front of Kagome and the rest of his friends.

Larina smiled and looked down at her daughter. "Come on Tani," she began, "let's get you out of those dirty clothes." She gently took her daughter's hand as they both started to head back to their hut.

As Larina and her daughter were heading back to their home, Larina had noticed something in Tani's eyes. For first time her eyes her dark grayish black, sad eyes were turning to a lighter shade grey; for the first time in a long time, Tani was actually happy.

**End Chapter**


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